Although they don't have large images, the Christies Auction site is a veritable smorgasbord for rare printed material. I seem to recall the above image, snagged at random, has something to do with galvanometry or human electricity or the somesuch. [Of particular note: 'The History of the Book: The Cornelius J. Hauck Collection' - auction next week. Drool.]

William Claxton's Printers Device 1489.

"Indonesian Batak Pustaha - Detail from nineteenth century magicbook, written on bark from the alim tree and used by medicine-menin performing ceremonies. Folded in concertina fashion."

The above 2 images are taken from an 1819 edition of'Giulietta e Romeo' by Luigi Da Porto(originally published sometime before 1529 - this is the bookthat Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is based on)

'Lud Hurdibras, Bladud and King Leir (Lear)' from:'Genealogy and Race of all the Kings of England' 1562 by Giles Godet.

'Queen Cordelia'; also from'Genealogy and Race of all the Kings of England',1564 by Giles Godet.

This painting is found in Sir William Hamilton's 'Campi Phlegraei, Observation on the volcanos of the two Sicilies As they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London' 1779. The image is one of 5 supplementary plates Hamilton included as an appendix to his vulcanology book following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Naples in 1779. More here, here and here.

An original pen/ink drawing -- 'Rocking Stones' --from 'Antiquarian Notes' 1789 by Dorothy Richardson.It is a depiction of Logan Stones in Cornwall.

All the images from the Claxton Printers device onwards come from the excellent Rylands Collection at the University of Manchester. I've posted some alchemy images previously but there are more than 2,500 rare book images available. The bad news is that you must install the Insight™ Browser (not so bad). All of the above Rylands Collection images are made from spliced screen captures. They have an amazing and eclectic set of works - one of the best online UK repositories - and I still haven't been through them all.

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For those who read this site via an RSS feed, the BibliOdyssey sidebar is guaranteed to contain high fibre, low cholesterol digital comfort food:

here's a link on origin of the first picture (in Russian Lubok style):http://www.hiero.ru/Akuaku/Lubkiauthor's name is Andrey Kuznetsov.

and you're right, it's really difficult to find proper translation. he used old, or looks-like-old words. all of them are recognized by modern reader and fit good for his graphic style: funny and clever stylization of Lubok pictures on nowadays reality. e.g. on this picture you can see Terminator, "strange man, clockwork blockhead"... all these texts are rhymed, as it often was on Lubok pictures.